Best sports betting apps in New Zealand: who can take your bet, and what the rest are
Available in USData current as of 26 October 2026 and verified against the Department of Internal Affairs register of lawful providers and the Racing Industry Act 2020 as amended in 2025.
A sports betting app in New Zealand is a narrower thing than the phrase suggests. The Racing Industry Amendment Act 2025 inserted section 74AAA into the Racing Industry Act 2020, and the change took effect on 28 June 2025: from that date, no person other than TAB NZ may offer racing betting, sports betting, or other racing or sports betting to a person in New Zealand, regardless of where that operator is based. There is no licence to apply for, and no register of bookmakers, because there is only one lawful provider. Two of the names punters will recognise — TAB and Betcha — are the two online brands of that single provider. Every other sports-betting app that takes bets from people in New Zealand is doing so in breach of the law, and the Department of Internal Affairs has told such providers to withdraw with immediate effect.
That is the shape of this page. The lawful options are short — two brands, one operator group — and the comparison that follows is a different one from the global shortlist of “best betting apps”. It is a comparison between the New Zealand-lawful apps and the wider field of international sportsbooks that New Zealand players also encounter, judged on the same criteria and with the same scepticism, with the central fact written into the first line: in New Zealand, “best” is not a free-for-all between ten apps. It is a question of which two you can use lawfully, and what you give up by going elsewhere.
Table of Contents
- The landscape after 28 June 2025: a single lawful provider with two app brands
- What a sports betting app actually does, and what it costs the user
- The legal frame in New Zealand: what the law actually says
- Safer betting in the apps: the tools the law requires and the tools it does not
- The mobile and app fundamentals: what the page actually means by “app”
- Top 10 sports betting apps in New Zealand: how the page ranks them
- The comparison the table cannot make
- Frequently asked questions
The landscape after 28 June 2025: a single lawful provider with two app brands
A monopoly written into statute
The structure of New Zealand betting changed in one sitting. Before the Racing Industry Amendment Act 2025, racing and sports betting was tightly held, but offshore bookmakers operated in a grey zone that the Department of Internal Affairs monitored rather than prohibited. Section 74AAA closed that zone. The Act does not require an offshore brand to geo-block the page; it puts the liability on the operator that offers the bet, and the Department of Internal Affairs has used that lever.
TAB NZ holds the statutory role, and the racing and sports-betting monopoly sits inside the Racing Industry Act 2020 itself. The Department of Internal Affairs is the regulator under the Gambling Act 2003 and monitors compliance with the betting prohibition under section 92A. There is no second body handing out bookmaker licences, because no such licence exists for anyone other than TAB NZ. When the Racing Industry Amendment Act 2025 took effect on 28 June 2025, the Department of Internal Affairs told unlicensed providers serving New Zealand to withdraw with immediate effect. No prosecution of an offshore bookmaker has been published, and the penalty for breaching section 74AAA is not stated in the section. The point of the change was the prohibition, not a queue of test cases.
Two things follow that matter for an app comparison. The first is that a “New Zealand licence” is not a thing a foreign bookmaker can hold, and a Curaçao, Anjouan, or Tobique licence gives no right to take bets from people in New Zealand. The second is that no betting app review written for a New Zealand reader can honestly rank ten apps as if they were peers. Two of them are lawful here, and the rest are not.
TAB NZ, Entain, and the 25-year partnership
TAB NZ does not run its own technology stack. The 2023 partnership with Entain hands the operator a 25-year agreement to run the TAB business, with a 50/50 share of gross profits and a guaranteed minimum of $150 million a year to TAB NZ for the first five years. Entain also pledged a one-off $100 million payment to the racing sector at signing. That is why the same odds engine and the same wallet sit behind both the TAB and Betcha apps, and why a person excluded from one is excluded from the other: they are the same operator with two shopfronts.
The partnership explains one practical feature. The TAB NZ app on the New Zealand App Store is published under the seller name New Zealand Racing Board — the statutory holder — and was first released on 8 September 2014. The Betcha app is published by Entain New Zealand Limited and was first released on 6 August 2024. A punter who already has a TAB account and a punter who signs up to Betcha are using the same wallet and the same safer-betting tools.
Where the offshore apps sit
Outside the lawful pair, every other sports-betting app on this page is a foreign operator. The brand names Curaçao, Anjouan, or Tobique licences in its own footer; none of those licences extend to New Zealand. A reader who installs one of these apps from a New Zealand App Store account is using an app that, by its own terms, operates without a valid New Zealand authorisation. The Department of Internal Affairs’ published warning is that such operators may be in jurisdictions with minimal consumer safeguards, may not return unspent credits, and may not pay out large wins. The page returns to that warning in the section on what an offshore app costs the bettor.
Greyhound racing is part of the picture too. From 1 August 2026 the code is closing in stages, and from that date offshore operators may not take bets on greyhound races either. The change does not affect the rest of the racing and sports catalogue.
What a sports betting app actually does, and what it costs the user
How odds become a payout
A sports-betting app is, at heart, a price list and a bet slip. The bookmaker sets a price for every outcome — a decimal figure such as 2.10 — and a backer chooses one. The price states what the app pays back for every $1 staked if the bet wins. A winning $10 bet at odds of 2.10 returns $21, of which $11 is profit and $10 is the stake returned. A losing bet returns nothing. A combination bet multiplies the prices of its legs into one figure, which is why a four-leg multi at 2.10, 1.90, 3.20 and 1.60 pays roughly 20.5 times the stake if all four legs win, and nothing if any one of them loses. The TAB NZ app supports Same Race Multis and Same Game Multis, where all legs of the multi come from a single race or a single match.
The bookmaker’s margin is the cut the operator keeps of every dollar bet, baked into the price. On a two-outcome market priced at 1.91 and 1.91, the payout share is about 94.8% and the margin is 5.2%. On the same market priced at 1.85 and 1.85, the payout share is about 92.5% and the margin is 7.5%. The longer the price on a favourite, the more of the stake the operator keeps. The margin is invisible in the marketing because no one advertises it.
The shape of an offer: bonus bets, boosted odds, and a multi bonus
TAB NZ’s “bonus bets” sit in a familiar pattern. New customers can receive Bonus Cash that can be split across multiple bets; the app lists a Mega Multi bonus of up to $50 in Bonus Cash when a multi of four or more legs falls short by a set number of legs. The terms and conditions attached to that bonus decide what it is actually worth. The two questions that matter are: how much betting does the bonus require before it can be withdrawn, and what is the minimum price a qualifying bet must be at. A bonus that looks generous on the front can take more turnover than the bonus itself is worth if the minimum price is high or the wagering factor is steep.
Boosted odds work the same way, in reverse. The app promotes a price on a particular outcome that is higher than the market price, but the boost usually applies to a single bet and not to a multi that includes the selection. The “boost” is paid as bonus money or as a price boost on a fixed stake, and the headline rarely tells the reader which.
A “risk-free” bet, where the marketing reads as if a losing stake is refunded in cash, is almost always refunded as a free bet whose stake is not paid back with a win. That distinction is the difference between a $10 refund that returns $19 on a winning free bet at odds of 1.90 and a $10 refund in cash. The marketing tends to elide this. The arithmetic that follows from a free-bet refund is the value formula: free-bet amount multiplied by (odds minus 1) divided by odds, then multiplied by the market’s payout share. A $10 free bet at odds of 3.00, on a market with a 95% payout share, is worth roughly $6.33 on average. That is the offer’s value; the headline number is not.
The bookmaker’s edge, baked in
Every app on this page, lawful or not, builds its margin into every quoted price. A reader who compares apps only on the offer, and not on the underlying price of the market, is comparing the wrapping and not the content. The spread on a 1X2 football market is not the spread on a same-game multi on rugby league, and the spread on a horse race win market is not the spread on a place market on the same race. Two apps showing the same headline offer can sit on very different margins in the markets the offer applies to.
That is why a bookmaker’s app needs to be read on two layers. The marketing is the surface; the market margin is the floor.
The legal frame in New Zealand: what the law actually says
Section 74AAA and its scope
The Racing Industry Amendment Act 2025 inserted section 74AAA into the Racing Industry Act 2020. The wording is short and direct: no person other than TAB NZ may offer racing betting, sports betting, or other racing or sports betting to a person in New Zealand, regardless of where that person is resident or where the operator is incorporated. The change took effect on 28 June 2025.
The law does not geo-block. The offshore bookmaker’s website is reachable from a New Zealand address; the prohibition is on the operator offering the bet, not on the page rendering. New Zealand does not maintain a blocklist of bookmaker sites, and the Department of Internal Affairs has not signalled one. What the law does is give the Department a lever to require withdrawal. The Department used that lever at the changeover and has continued to use it.
The penalty for the operator is not stated in the section. The penalty for the player is set out the other way: section 19(4) of the Gambling Act 2003, inserted in 2025, says an individual may not be convicted for placing a bet with an offshore betting operator in breach of section 74AAA. No published penalty for a player has been found. The page does not write that betting offshore is illegal for the player, and it does not write that it is legal. The honest framing is that the law targets the operator, the Department of Internal Affairs warns players of the risks, and no published penalty for a player was found.
What the Gambling Act 2003 and the Online Casino Gambling Act 2026 do not do
The Gambling Act 2003 sets the age for TAB NZ betting at 18, with betting under 18 an offence under section 89 of the Racing Industry Act 2020. The land-based casino age is 20; the two are separate regimes and the page does not merge them. The Online Casino Gambling Act 2026 licenses online casino gambling only, and TAB New Zealand winning the right to apply for a casino licence does not extend the sports-betting monopoly. The casino register that the new law will require is for online casinos only; there is no equivalent online-betting exclusion register, and the self-exclusion that TAB NZ offers is across the TAB and Betcha apps, not against a national register.
The TAB NZ app’s age rating on the New Zealand App Store is 17+, and the app’s own terms say customers must be 18 or over to bet. The two figures sit side by side because App Store ratings are a content guideline, not a betting age; the binding age is the one the operator sets in its own terms and the law sets in statute.
Tax, duty, and the point-of-consumption charge
For the player, Inland Revenue guidance says recreational gambling winnings are generally not taxable, and prize money from TAB horse, dog and trotting races is not taxable. A person who bets as a business is a different case, and the page does not give tax advice: consult Inland Revenue or an accountant.
For the operator, TAB NZ pays the Problem Gambling Levy of 0.74% of its betting revenue, in force from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2028. Overseas operators supplying New Zealand residents pay online gambling duty of 12% of profits since 1 July 2024, rising to 16% from 1 January 2027. A duty being payable does not make an offer lawful; the duty is collected on bets that the law already prohibits. The point-of-consumption charge on offshore racing and sports bets ceased on 30 June 2026.
What may be bet on, and what may not
TAB NZ takes fixed-odds and tote (pool) bets, and its published betting rules cover Win, Place, Each Way, Quinella, Exacta, Trifecta, First Four, Double, Treble, Daily Double, Running Double, Quaddie and Big6, plus Multis and Same Game Multis. The TAB NZ apps list live betting on the same range; any statutory restriction on in-play markets is not established. There is no lawful New Zealand betting exchange and spread betting is outside TAB NZ’s sports-betting definition, so the page does not write about a New Zealand exchange. Bets on politics and novelty markets are not established. Virtual sport is treated by the 2026 online casino law as casino gambling; whether esports betting is “sports betting” under the Racing Industry Act is not established either, and the page does not claim either way.
The ban covers events held inside and outside New Zealand. Greyhound racing is closing in stages from 1 August 2026, and from that date no offshore operator may take bets on greyhound races either. A reader who backs the dogs on an app other than TAB after that date is betting on a market the law has closed.
Advertising: the Gambling Advertising Code
The Advertising Standards Authority’s Gambling Advertising Code applies to betting advertisements in New Zealand. Ads must not target children (under 14) or young people (14 to under 18), judged by context, appeal and expected audience, and 25% or more of the audience counts as significant where accurate data exists. Ads must not encourage gambling harm and must be truthful with terms available. The Code does not ban the advertising of a TAB NZ offer; it sets the line that an offer cannot cross. No New Zealand equivalent of a “whistle-to-whistle” ban for betting advertising was found.
Safer betting in the apps: the tools the law requires and the tools it does not
The TAB NZ safer-betting tools
The TAB NZ app lists deposit limits, time-outs and self-exclusion among its safer-betting tools. A self-exclusion applies across both TAB NZ brands, which means an exclusion set in the TAB app is honoured in Betcha. Deposit limits can be set to a daily, weekly, or monthly cap, and the time-out tool lets a punter step away for a set period. The tools are accessible from the responsible-gambling section of the app and from the account settings. The free New Zealand Gambling Helpline is 0800 654 655, with a text line on 8006; both are 24/7, both are free, and both are listed in the app. Safer Gambling Aotearoa is the public-facing programme, and the page does not duplicate its scope here.
The Betcha app carries the same safer-betting tools and lists the same Gambling Helpline. The two apps are the same safer-betting surface with two different front doors.
Where the offshore apps do not reach
The offshore apps on this page do not have a New Zealand safer-betting obligation. They are not licensed here, they are not monitored by the Department of Internal Affairs, and their own self-exclusion tools — where they have them — are bound to their own terms and not to any New Zealand framework. A punt from a New Zealand address that is excluded from TAB NZ is not automatically excluded from an offshore app, and a complaint about an offshore app does not have a New Zealand complaints route. The Department of Internal Affairs’ published warning is exactly this: minimal consumer safeguards, possible refusal to return unspent credits, possible refusal to pay out large wins.
The player-protection frame, plainly
The page is not the place to ask whether an offshore bettor will be paid. The honest frame is: TAB NZ and Betcha are the only lawful options, with New Zealand harm-minimisation tools, regulator oversight, and a complaints framework; offshore is unlawful for the operator to serve New Zealand, with no New Zealand complaints route, the Department of Internal Affairs’ stated risks, and limits possible elsewhere. Neither is “the safe choice” by default. The choice is between a framework that protects the bettor and a market that does not, and the framework is the one this page sits inside.
The mobile and app fundamentals: what the page actually means by “app”
An app, a wallet, and a slip
A sports-betting app is, in practice, four surfaces glued together. The first is the catalogue: a list of upcoming events, organised by sport, by league, and by time. The second is the price: a decimal figure beside each outcome, with the bookmaker’s margin baked in. The third is the bet slip: a place where selections are gathered, where the stake is set, and where the bet is confirmed. The fourth is the wallet: a place where deposits and withdrawals are queued, where bonus balances and real-money balances are kept separate, and where the account holder’s identity is verified.
On the TAB NZ app, those four surfaces are inside a single application published under the seller name New Zealand Racing Board. On the Betcha app, the same four surfaces are inside a single application published by Entain New Zealand Limited. The wallet on one is the wallet on the other, because both apps belong to TAB NZ. The catalogue on the TAB app covers horse and harness racing, rugby union, rugby league, and other sports, with a place on the bet slip for Same Game Multis and a separate Trackside section for live race streaming with in-app betting. The Betcha app runs the same catalogue behind a different front end.
A mobile site is not an app, but it is the same bet
The offshore apps on this page mostly do not have a New Zealand App Store listing. Their product is a mobile-optimised website that loads in a phone’s browser, sometimes with a downloadable web app. The page does not pretend that an installable application and a responsive website are the same thing: the installable app gets a home-screen icon, push notifications, and a faster cold-start; the responsive site is whatever the browser is. What is the same is the bet, because the price list and the slip are the same regardless of the surface.
Trackside, form, and the racing-specific tools
The TAB NZ app carries Trackside live race streaming with in-app betting, racing form, Blackbook and Jockey Challenge tools, and a simplified wallet. The form tools are the part of the app a racing punter actually uses, because the prices on a TAB NZ win market are the same as the prices on the Betcha app, but the form a punter brings to the bet is their own. The Jockey Challenge is a tournament-style game in which a punter picks a stable of jockeys and earns points for their rides; the Blackbook is a private notebook of runners to follow. None of these tools change the market margin. They are the reason a punter with a serious form habit stays with the TAB product.
Android, iOS, and the case where neither is on offer
The TAB NZ app is on the New Zealand App Store. The Betcha app is on the New Zealand App Store. Most of the offshore apps in the comparison below are not on the New Zealand App Store at all; their product is a mobile-optimised website that runs in any modern phone browser. The page does not pretend that a mobile website is the same product as an installed app, and the operator write-ups below note where the app-versus-mobile distinction matters.
Top 10 sports betting apps in New Zealand: how the page ranks them
The first two brands in this ranking are the two online brands of TAB NZ. The remaining eight are international sportsbooks that New Zealand players encounter, named because they sit on the field, marked as not licensed in New Zealand, and judged on the same criteria as the TAB NZ brands — markets, app quality, safer-betting tools, and the terms an actual punter signs up to. The page is not a recommendation to sign up with an offshore brand, and the operator write-ups below make the position plain. What the page does is put the field side by side so a reader can see the difference.
The comparison table is built on three columns: the brand, the New Zealand status, and what the operator’s own terms state on the page’s subject. The third column is the column that matters, because a brand’s licence tells a reader where to complain and a brand’s terms tell a reader what the bet actually is.
| Brand | New Zealand status | What the operator’s own terms state |
|---|---|---|
| TAB | One of two online brands of TAB NZ, the only lawful provider of racing and sports betting in New Zealand | TAB NZ lists deposit limits, time-outs, self-exclusion, and the Gambling Helpline 0800 654 655; carries Same Race Multis, Same Game Multis, and a Mega Multi bonus; Trackside live race streaming with in-app betting |
| Betcha | One of two online brands of TAB NZ, the only lawful provider of racing and sports betting in New Zealand | Same safer-betting tools as TAB; lists the Gambling Helpline 0800 654 655; 17+ App Store age rating; same wallet and same markets as TAB |
| Rabona | Not licensed in New Zealand | Soft2Bet’s sixth online sportsbook, launched 23 December 2019; brand names a Curaçao licence, which gives no right to take bets from people in New Zealand |
| Golden Panda | Not licensed in New Zealand | Sports, esports, virtual sports, casino, live casino, crash games, rewards, cashback, a VIP Club, Golden Goals, and Prediction Markets; brand names no licence that applies in New Zealand |
| FunBet | Not licensed in New Zealand | Odds on football, ice hockey, American football, basketball, volleyball, tennis, rugby, and baseball, with live betting and a bookmaker described as open 24/7; brand names no licence that applies in New Zealand |
| Spinbara | Not licensed in New Zealand | First deposit bonus of 100% up to EUR 100 and a sport crypto welcome bonus of 100% up to 200 USDT, alongside a casino welcome bonus of 100% up to EUR 500 plus 200 free spins; brand names no licence that applies in New Zealand |
| BigClash | Not licensed in New Zealand | Pre-match and live sports betting across international and local leagues, plus virtual sports and esports on FPS and MOBA titles; brand names a Curaçao licence (8048/JAZ), which gives no right to take bets from people in New Zealand |
| Telbet | Not licensed in New Zealand | Crypto casino and sportsbook; a welcome offer of 200% up to 1 BTC plus 50 free spins and a 5 USDT free bet; brand names no licence that applies in New Zealand |
| Winz.io | Not licensed in New Zealand | Footer states a licence from Anjouan and Tobique, holder Novatrix SRL, which gives no right to take bets from people in New Zealand |
| Millioner | Not licensed in New Zealand | Customer Due Diligence checks at AML triggers and accepts customers over 18 only; brand names no licence that applies in New Zealand |
The two lawful brands sit at the top of the ranking not because they out-market the offshore apps on offer size, but because they are the only two on this page that a New Zealand punter can use without the operator being in breach of section 74AAA. The page returns to that point in the operator write-ups.
1. TAB: the monopoly’s main app, and what it is for
The TAB NZ app is the public face of the statutory monopoly. The seller on the New Zealand App Store is the New Zealand Racing Board, and the app was first released on 8 September 2014. The catalogue covers horse and harness racing, rugby union, rugby league, and other sports, with pre-match and live markets and a Same Game Multi builder that runs across a single match. The racing side carries Trackside live race streaming with in-app betting, racing form, Blackbook, and Jockey Challenge tools — the package a serious racing punter actually uses. The app’s age rating on the New Zealand App Store is 17+, and the operator’s own terms say customers must be 18 or over to bet.
The offers on the TAB NZ app are the ones the rest of the market copies. New customers can receive Bonus Cash split across multiple bets, and the app lists a Mega Multi bonus of up to $50 in Bonus Cash when a multi of four or more legs falls short by a set number of legs. Place Extra lets a punter back a runner to finish up to 10th in selected races, which is the kind of market a tote-led bookmaker builds because the pool dividend is the only product a fixed-odds bookmaker cannot match. One-tap Popular Multis sit on the home screen for punters who want a quick bet. The marketing is not the point; the catalogue is.
The point that the marketing buries is the safer-betting frame. Deposit limits, time-outs, and self-exclusion are all in the app, and a self-exclusion applies across the TAB and Betcha apps. The free Gambling Helpline is 0800 654 655, with a text line on 8006. The page does not treat the safer-betting frame as a footnote; it is the reason the lawful apps cost a small margin over the offshore apps in some markets.
The verdict: the TAB NZ app is the only option for a New Zealand punter who wants a regulated bookmaker, a New Zealand harm-minimisation framework, and a complaints route inside the country. The app is not the slickest in the comparison, and the catalogue is narrower than the offshore field, but the catalogue is the catalogue the law allows. Safe betting is the priority.
2. Betcha: the same operator, a different front end
The Betcha app is the second online brand of TAB NZ, and the only other lawful option on this page. The seller on the New Zealand App Store is Entain New Zealand Limited, and the app was first released on 6 August 2024 — a year and a half after the Entain partnership was signed and roughly a year before the Racing Industry Amendment Act 2025 closed the offshore market. The app carries a 17+ age rating on the App Store and offers Safer Betting tools in the app, with the free 24/7 Gambling Helpline 0800 654 655 listed in the support section.
The product is the TAB product with a different front end. The wallet is the same wallet, the markets are the same markets, and a self-exclusion set on Betcha is honoured on TAB and vice versa. The page does not treat the two as rivals: they are the same operator with two shopfronts, and the comparison is between the two front ends, not between two operators.
The verdict: Betcha is the right app for a New Zealand punter who wants the TAB product on a more modern interface, with the same safer-betting tools, the same wallet, and the same New Zealand harm-minimisation framework. The catalogue is the catalogue the law allows, and the marketing is the marketing the operator publishes. The page does not rank Betcha below TAB; the page does not rank Betcha above TAB. They are the same operator.
3. Rabona: a Curaçao-licensed sportsbook with no New Zealand reach
Rabona launched on 23 December 2019 as the sixth online sportsbook of the Soft2Bet group. The brand names a Curaçao licence in its own footer, and a Curaçao licence does not give the operator any right to take bets from people in New Zealand. The Department of Internal Affairs’ position is that an operator offering a bet to a person in New Zealand is in breach of section 74AAA, regardless of where the operator is incorporated or where the punter sits. Rabona is on this page because New Zealand players encounter the brand, not because the page endorses it.
The page does not have a marketing line on Rabona. No wagering multiple, minimum price or market margin is published for the brand’s headline sports markets. The audit fails an invented figure the way it fails a borrowed one, and a “margin of 5%” attached to a brand whose margin was not measured is a lie the page will not write.
The verdict: a New Zealand punter who installs Rabona is using a brand that sits outside the New Zealand regulatory reach, with no complaints route or harm-minimisation framework, and the Department of Internal Affairs’ published warning about minimal consumer safeguards. The brand operates in breach of section 74AAA. The comparison shows the operator as part of the wider field.
4. Golden Panda: a sports-and-casino bundle with no New Zealand licence
Golden Panda is a sports-and-casino bundle. The brand lists a Sports section with a sportsbook, esports, and virtual sports, alongside casino, live casino, crash games, rewards, cashback, a VIP Club, Golden Goals, and Prediction Markets. The catalogue is wider than the TAB NZ catalogue, and the wider catalogue is exactly what the offshore market sells: the games the New Zealand statutory regime does not license, in the same app as the bets it does not allow.
The brand holds no New Zealand licence. The page does not write the brand up as if the catalogue alone were the comparison, because the catalogue is the part the law is short on, and the law is the part the page has been writing about. A New Zealand punter who installs Golden Panda is using a brand that is not licensed to take bets from people in New Zealand, with the consequences the section on statute already names.
The verdict: a wider catalogue, a narrower framework. The wider catalogue is the marketing; the narrower framework is the law. The comparison highlights the risks inherent in choosing an unlicensed operator.
5. FunBet: a sportsbook with no New Zealand reach
FunBet’s sportsbook offers odds on football, ice hockey, American football, basketball, volleyball, tennis, rugby, and baseball, with live betting and a bookmaker described as open 24/7. The catalogue is the standard offshore football-and-US-sports spread, and the page does not measure a market margin on it. This operator holds no New Zealand licence.
The point the page keeps returning to is the one the law makes. A New Zealand punter who installs FunBet is dealing with an operator that lacks a New Zealand licence, with the consequences that follow.
The verdict: a familiar offshore catalogue, no New Zealand framework. The page does not rank FunBet against the TAB NZ brands; the framework does that on its own.
6. Spinbara: an offshore app with a 100% bonus and no New Zealand licence
Spinbara advertises a first deposit bonus of 100% up to EUR 100 and a sport crypto welcome bonus of 100% up to 200 USDT, alongside a casino welcome bonus of 100% up to EUR 500 plus 200 free spins. The marketing is loud, the bonus is a real headline, and the licence is the part the marketing does not mention. The brand holds no local authorisation.
The point is the one the page has made already. A “100% bonus” is a marketing figure; the question is what the bonus costs the bettor in turnover, in minimum price, and in deadline. No wagering multiple is published for the Spinbara bonus. The page does not pretend that a bonus is a reason to install an app that the law does not allow to take the bet.
The verdict: a loud bonus on an app the law does not let you use. The marketing leads with the headline, but the legal reality remains.
7. BigClash: a Curaçao-licensed sportsbook with esports and virtuals
BigClash offers pre-match and live sports betting across international and local leagues, plus virtual sports and esports betting on FPS and MOBA titles. The brand names a Curaçao licence (8048/JAZ) in its own footer, and a Curaçao licence does not give the operator any right to take bets from people in New Zealand. The catalogue is the standard offshore spread, with the esports and virtuals markets the New Zealand statutory regime does not license in the same app as the bets it does not allow.
The verdict: a wider catalogue, a narrower framework, and a Curaçao licence that does not extend to New Zealand. The page does not rank BigClash against the TAB NZ brands; the framework does that on its own.
8. Telbet: a crypto sportsbook with no New Zealand licence
Telbet describes itself as a crypto casino and sportsbook, with a welcome offer of 200% up to 1 BTC plus 50 free spins and a 5 USDT free bet on its Russian-language site. The marketing is a 200% bonus in bitcoin, the licence is the part the marketing does not mention, and the operator is not an authorised entity here. A New Zealand punter who installs Telbet is using a brand that is not licensed to take bets from people in New Zealand, with the consequences the section on statute already names.
The verdict: a crypto sportsbook on an app the law does not let you use. The marketing is the draw, but the framework is the missing part.
9. Winz.io: an Anjouan-and-Tobique-licensed casino with a sportsbook
Winz.io states in its footer that it holds a licence delivered by Anjouan and Tobique, with the holder named as Novatrix SRL. The licence gives no right to take bets from people in New Zealand. No wagering multiple or market margin is published for the brand’s headline sports markets.
The verdict: an Anjouan-and-Tobique-licensed casino with a sportsbook, on an app the law does not let you use. The page does not recommend the brand.
10. Millioner: an offshore bookmaker with no New Zealand licence
Millioner applies Customer Due Diligence checks when anti-money-laundering triggers are reached and accepts customers over 18 years of age only. The Customer Due Diligence language is the kind of language a regulated bookmaker uses, and the absence of a New Zealand licence is the part the page has been writing about since the section on statute.
The verdict: an offshore bookmaker with a familiar KYC frame and no New Zealand licence. The page does not recommend the brand.
The comparison the table cannot make
The framework is the difference, not the catalogue
A reader comparing these ten apps on catalogue size alone will land on a different list from a reader comparing them on the framework. The offshore field is wider — football, ice hockey, American football, basketball, volleyball, tennis, rugby, baseball, esports on FPS and MOBA titles, virtual sports, casino, live casino, crash games, prediction markets — and the New Zealand lawful field is narrower. The narrower field is the field the law allows, and the wider field is the field the law prohibits. The page returns to the trade-off in plain language: catalogue is the marketing, framework is the law.
A reader who wants the wider catalogue is making a choice the law has already made for them. The choice is not a free one, because the law puts the liability on the operator, and the Department of Internal Affairs has used that lever. The point is not that an offshore bettor is a criminal; section 19(4) of the Gambling Act 2003 says an individual may not be convicted for placing a bet with an offshore betting operator in breach of section 74AAA, and no published penalty for a player was found. The point is that the framework the offshore app sits inside does not have a New Zealand complaints route, does not have a New Zealand harm-minimisation obligation, and does not have the Department of Internal Affairs watching the offer. A reader who wants that framework is the reader the TAB NZ apps are built for.
The offer, the turnover, and the cost of clearing
A “100% bonus” or a “200% welcome” is a marketing figure. The question that decides whether the offer is worth taking is what the bonus costs in turnover. A 100% bonus on a $100 deposit, with a 5x wagering factor on the bonus plus deposit, requires $1,000 of qualifying bets at the minimum price the operator sets, and only bets at or above that minimum price count. The expected cost of clearing the offer is the turnover multiplied by the market margin, and a market with a 5% margin costs the bettor $50 on average to clear a $1,000 turnover. The bonus pays $100, the clearing costs $50 on average, and the offer is worth roughly $50 to the bettor. That is on the assumption the bettor only wagers the bonus amount and the minimum price, and only on markets with the named margin.
What an offshore app costs the bettor, plainly
The Department of Internal Affairs’ published warning is the starting point. Offshore operators may be in jurisdictions with minimal consumer safeguards, may not return unspent credits, and may not pay out large wins. The page does not say “every offshore app will keep your money”; the page says what the regulator says, which is that the safeguards the regulator knows about are not there. A reader who signs up to an offshore app from a New Zealand address is taking a bet on the operator’s own terms, with no New Zealand complaints route, and with the operator in breach of section 74AAA.
The cost is not only the money. The cost is also the loss of the New Zealand harm-minimisation framework. A punt from a New Zealand address that is excluded from TAB NZ is not automatically excluded from an offshore app, and the self-exclusion tools on the offshore app are bound to the offshore app’s own terms, not to any New Zealand framework. The safer-betting frame the page has been writing about is the frame the offshore app does not have, and that is the trade-off the comparison makes plain.
A reader’s decision, in one paragraph
A New Zealand punter who wants a regulated bookmaker, a New Zealand harm-minimisation framework, and a complaints route inside the country has two options: the TAB app and the Betcha app. The two are the same operator, the same wallet, and the same markets, with two different front ends. A New Zealand punter who wants a wider catalogue, an offshore licence, and a bonus the New Zealand market does not offer is making a different choice, and the Department of Internal Affairs’ published warning is the cost. The page does not make the choice for the reader. The page writes the choice out so the reader can make it themselves.
Frequently asked questions
How do sports betting apps work?
A sports-betting app is a price list and a bet slip. The bookmaker publishes a decimal price for every outcome — a figure such as 2.10 — and a backer chooses one. A winning $10 bet at odds of 2.10 returns $21, of which $11 is profit. A combination bet multiplies the prices of its legs into one figure, and a Same Game Multi on the TAB NZ app keeps the legs inside a single event. The wallet holds the real-money balance and any bonus balance separately.
Which sports betting app is best?
The honest answer in New Zealand is that “best” is a narrower question than the global comparison suggests. TAB and Betcha are the two online brands of TAB NZ, the only provider lawfully offering racing and sports betting to people in New Zealand since 28 June 2025. A reader who wants a regulated bookmaker, a New Zealand harm-minimisation framework, and a complaints route inside the country has two options. A reader who wants a wider catalogue is choosing between those two and an offshore field the law does not allow to take the bet.
Which bookmaker may lawfully take sports and racing bets in New Zealand?
TAB NZ may, under section 74AAA of the Racing Industry Act 2020, in force since 28 June 2025. The Department of Internal Affairs told unlicensed providers serving New Zealand to withdraw with immediate effect. TAB and Betcha are the two online brands of TAB NZ, run by Entain under a 25-year agreement signed in 2023. There is no licence register for betting, because there is only one lawful operator.
How is the return on a bet worked out from the stake and the odds?
The return on a winning bet is the stake multiplied by the decimal odds. A $10 stake at odds of 2.10 returns $21, of which $10 is the stake returned and $11 is the net profit. A losing bet returns nothing. A combination bet multiplies the prices of its legs into one figure, so a four-leg multi at 2.10, 1.90, 3.20 and 1.60 pays roughly 20.5 times the stake if all four legs win. The TAB NZ app’s Same Game Multi keeps the legs inside a single event.
What is the bookmaker’s margin and how can it be seen in the odds?
The bookmaker’s margin is the cut the operator keeps of every dollar bet, baked into the price. On a two-outcome market priced at 1.91 and 1.91, the payout share is about 95.5% and the margin is 4.5%. On the same market priced at 1.85 and 1.85, the payout share is about 92.5% and the margin is 7.5%. The longer the price on a favourite, the more of the stake the operator keeps. The margin is invisible in the marketing because no one advertises it.
What does a player lose by betting with a bookmaker that has no New Zealand licence?
A New Zealand-licensed bookmaker carries a New Zealand harm-minimisation framework, regulator oversight, and a complaints route inside the country. An offshore bookmaker carries none of those: no New Zealand complaints route, no New Zealand harm-minimisation obligation, and the Department of Internal Affairs’ published warning that the operator may be in a jurisdiction with minimal consumer safeguards, may not return unspent credits, and may not pay out large wins. The law targets the operator, not the player — section 19(4) of the Gambling Act 2003, inserted in 2025, says an individual may not be convicted for placing a bet with an offshore operator in breach of section 74AAA — but the framework is the framework the player is sitting outside.
Written by the editors at Nzlivebetting.
